<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>The Yiling Almanac Test Garden Hires an Intern by OtherCat</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26974456">The Yiling Almanac Test Garden Hires an Intern</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtherCat/pseuds/OtherCat'>OtherCat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Yiling Almanac [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Hidden Almanac (Podcast), 陈情令 | The Untamed (TV), 魔道祖师 - 墨香铜臭 | Módào Zǔshī - Mòxiāng Tóngxiù</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Crack, Crossover, Drom puts cart before horse, Gen, Mord is the last bastion of sanity, Wèi Yīng raised by Others</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 21:20:43</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,440</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26974456</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/OtherCat/pseuds/OtherCat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A former adjunct professor of the Ravencoast School of Divinity rescues a street kid during a shopping trip to Yiling. This somehow snowballs into Mord's new garden acquiring its first intern.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Pastor Drom &amp; Reverend Mord (The Hidden Almanac)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>The Yiling Almanac [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1968502</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Yiling Almanac Test Garden Hires an Intern</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    
<p></p><div>
  <p>Pastor Drom was at the market reading the shopping list provided by Reverend Mord, best friend and platonic unlife partner. (He did not like being called a platonic unlife partner. She was sure she could turn him around to her way of thinking...in a century or two.) She was down to the sixth item on the list, <span class="u">TEA</span> when she heard loud barking followed by a scream.  Up ahead in the swirl of foot traffic was a ragged hip-high blur, pursued by a trio of stray dogs. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>No one was paying much attention to the blur or the dogs except to get out of the way or shout at the blur or the dogs. Because of course not. Drom tossed some coins in the direction of the vendor and waded in, flailing at the dogs. "Git, scram, bad dogs,you are all ̶͕̈B̶͚a̶̖͌D̸͓͗ ̴̚͜D̴̘͌o̷̙̍G̴̩̓s̷̭̽!̶̫̇!" she shouted, her voice dipping toward Eldritch. The dogs yipped and cowered, then scattered immediately to Think About What They Had Done.  (And maybe even consider going to a little doggie temple and confessing their little doggie sins. And seeking penitence and absolution fort their wicked little doggie ways.) The kid, because the blur had been one of the street kids Drom had seen around the city, was shaking and crying.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Hey kid, are you okay?" Drom asks the kid, who is clutching a smashed and very moldy bun to his chest. "Okay, not okay, because that bun came out of the garbage and has the bad mold on it, but did they bite you?"</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"No," the kid says, shaking his head. He squishes the bun some more. "It's okay if you scrape the moldy bits off." he mumbles. "Thank you for chasing off the dogs." A beat. "Dhaozang?" as if he isn't sure. He stares at her mask, a leather plague doctor mask similar to the one Mord wore. It was not a standard article of clothing for Daoists or cultivators and did not look anything like the kinds of masks she'd seen being sold in the market.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Kid, if you can see the mold on top, then it's grown all through it," Drom says. "Drop it, and let me get you something to eat."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>The kid, being a street kid and no fool was wary, but followed after Drom, who gets him steamed buns, a roast sweet potato, and peanuts. Drom would be the first to tell you (in detail) that  she is no good at kids. They are small confusing people that bounce around like rubber balls. (Mord has pointed out that she is also a small confusing person who bounces around like a rubber ball. Not that he would say she was childish. Precisely. There was nothing childish about Drom's veneration of the Agave and the liquor distilled from it for instance. <strike>She may be slightly bitter that the cultivation world managed to have potatoes and chili peppers but there is not a single agave to be had for love or money.</strike> )</p>
</div><div>
  <p>What Drom is good at is stories. She gets the story out of the kid, which is that the kid's name is Wei Ying and his parents were cultivators and that they left him to go kill a monster and they never came back.  Drom is not a historian, she does not care about the accuracy of the story, or the specifics. If it describes actual events or is something the kid wants to believe in because his life is crap and social services does not exist. It's a story and stories are more than fiction, they are the bones that give shape to someone's identity. And from this story she learns that the kid wanted to be the kind of person who has parents that zip around like the Hummingbird Saint on swords defeating evil.</p>
</div><div>
  <p>With her left over money she "hires" him to carry her shopping baskets. She pays up front, and being a good kid, Wei Ying doesn't scarper.  She talks about the test garden and about her travels. The kid asks a million questions and Drom is answering them just as fast, their voices getting louder and more excited as they go along. They are very, very loud as they reach the front gates of the garden. George the Crow caws greeting, and flies out to meet them, dropping to landing on a post. "Hey George!" Drom says cheerfully, and swings the gate open before taking the shopping baskets. "Kid, meet George, George, meet Wei Ying."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>George cawed a polite hello. The kid stared from her, to the crow. Drom waited expectantly. "Hello?" Wei Ying asked. Drom nodded approvingly. "Wait here, and let me get you something for your trip back."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Yes Daozhang, thank you," Wei Ying says with a little bow and a bounce. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>Drom starts out with the idea of a care package for the kid, and maybe "hiring" him to carry things on a regular basis. (And maybe find out if orphanages are a thing in the cultivation world, because obviously there didn't seem to be anything resembling social services except a kind of lackadaisical charity done by rich noble women, and religious orders.) Wei Ying seemed too independent for a religious order, and she reasoned if there were room in any local orphanage  he'd be there, or has reason to not be there. The care package starts with food, but then she remembers the state of his clothes (ragged) so she included a sewing kit. She figured she can teach him how to sew. Socks were always a good thing, and so was a little extra money. And a comb. Finger combing can only do so much. Mord finds Drom about an hour later stuffing everything into a satchel plus packets of flea and lice repellent herbs.  </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Drom. There is a small child at the gate to the test garden," Mord says in his usual slow, patient 'Drom what are you doing and should I be trying to stop you' voice. "Why is there a child sitting on the gate feeding peanuts to George?" </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Oh, that's Wei Ying. One of the street kids in Yiling. He was attacked by dogs so I hired him to carry my packages."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Mord studied her, plainly hoping to find out how point a connects to point b. "The child is homeless?" </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"<em>Yes,</em> Mord <em>obviously</em>. I figure I could help him out a little. Give him some food and some other things. Maybe hire him for errands? That kind of thing. Check out if there's an orphanage or get him apprenticed somehow.  He's about that age, right?" </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Drom, if he has no place to sleep or store what you give him, he'll be robbed," Mord said. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"I could give him enough money for a cheap room?" Drom suggested. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Or he could sleep in the loft above the garden shed," Mord said. "There is plenty of room, and I could use an intern." </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Are you sure? I mean, what if the kid doesn't want to? And what do we do if he gets sick? What if he gets hurt?" </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Drom, all of these things are things you would worry about regardless," Mord pointed out. "We can ask, and if he does not want to be an intern, we can attempt to find some alternative. In any case, he can stay here." </p>
</div><div>
  <p>So Drom and Mord go down to the gate, where Wei Ying is now hanging up side down, apparently having an animated discussion with George.  As he saw them approach, he flipped over onto the ground, managing to stick the landing with just a slight stumble. "Dhaozhang Drom!" he says with a bow. He gives the satchel full of food and other odds and ends a wide eyed look. "Is that for me?" he asked. "Respect, this one doesn't think he can carry all of that." </p>
</div><div>
  <p>It was a very big satchel. </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Wei Ying, this is...Dhaozhang Mord," Drom said. "He suggested that we could hire you as an intern." </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"What's an intern?" </p>
</div><div>
  <p>"Something like an apprentice or an assistant," Mord said. "You would help in the garden, run errands, catalog and record crop yield, weather conditions and so on."</p>
</div><div>
  <p>Wei Ying looked interested, then crestfallen. "I can't read." </p>
</div><div>
<p></p><div><p>"We'd teach you, along with math and other skills," Mord said.</p></div><div><p>Wei Ying thought about it, then nodded. "Would I learn how to make wards like the ones on your fence?" </p></div><div><p>"If you have the aptitude for it," Mord said. "Which seems likely, if you saw them and understood their purpose." </p></div><div><p>"Then I would very much like to work for you, Daozhang!" Wei Ying said enthusiastically. </p></div></div>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>--Yes, I need the guide someone wrote for this fandom. I need to a)find it. b) book mark it. </p><p>--If there are correct terms for Wei Ying to use with Drom or Mord, let me know.</p><p>--You might need to have some familiarity with the Hidden Almanac. The podcast was in the form of a short radio spot where Reverend Mord would discuss a day in history (in a very weird alternate universe), talk about a saint's feast day, talk about the test garden plus the extremely surreal setting. The episodes are short, entertaining and the various story lines slowly get more complicated. </p><p>--All you really need to know here is that Mord and Drom are mysterious, apparently religious people of some kind, and have a large garden surrounding a house that has a shed. And it's warded for some reason. </p><p>--Also, George is an Excellent Crow.</p><p>--I'm torn. The next story could be Jiang Fengmian finding Newsie! Wei Ying selling the almanac or Wei Ying settling into being and intern and slowly learning how weird his teachers are.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>